


Already On the Outskirts

by frabjousday (frabjous)



Category: Revenge (TV)
Genre: Age Difference, Daddy Issues, M/M, Unrequited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-25
Updated: 2012-09-25
Packaged: 2017-11-15 00:55:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/521354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frabjous/pseuds/frabjousday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kid, he calls Nolan. Nolan will be twenty next week and he’s in the middle of designing an operating system that’s going to revolutionise computing. </p><p>But David’s old fashioned like that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Already On the Outskirts

**Author's Note:**

> Unbetaed.

“Shouldn’t you be off with the kids your age? Whatever it is they do at this time of year - spring break right?”

Kid, he calls Nolan. Nolan will be twenty next week and he’s in the middle of designing an operating system that’s going to revolutionise computing. But David’s old fashioned like that - the kind of guy who treats anyone in their twenties like they’re fresh out of high school. Yesterday David told Nolan that he was like a son, which is so, so, _so_ far from the kind of relationship that Nolan had been going for. Though maybe the problem was that David wasn’t old fashioned enough.

Nolan shrugs and gives his best ambivalent smile. “Yeah, well, spring break’s not really my thing. Anyway, I thought you’d be glad to know I’m working on the alpha release, and not blowing your money on drugs and hookers. You know, like what they do in the Hamptons.”

David laughs. Nolan doesn’t mean to be funny, but he wants to be funny for David. More than anything he loves watching David laugh. “These are some of the best years of your life. You should be out enjoying yourself, Nolan. The money isn’t that important, you know. It’s what you make of yourself. It’s how you define yourself as a man.”

Now that’s some father-son talk if Nolan’s ever heard it, but Nolan’s only ever heard it on TV, and definitely not from his biological dad. For all he knew sage truisms had become a popular pick-up technique among the forty and over crowd, but he’s not crossing his fingers about that either.

Not knowing how to respond he shrugs again, feeling frustrated at how stupid and vapid he must seem to David. Nolan takes his laptop out of the bag so at least they can have a conversation where he stands on firmer ground.

“I uh, brought along the most recent version to show you,” he explains, booting up the computer. “So I’ve ironed out most of the bugs but a handful are still being troublesome. The GUI is uglier than a turd because I haven’t worked on the front-end - and there’s still that memory leak I haven’t got around to - but it’s quicker, more efficient and you can run it off a single floppy drive. Almost,” he adds, “if I fix that memory issue.” He takes a pen from the table and scribbles a note on the back of his hand. 

When Nolan looks up David is just sitting there with an apologetic smile and lost expression on his face. 

“Is something wrong?” he asks. “Because the memory issue - it isn’t even an issue. I just didn’t get time to patch it before I got here, but I can do it in like a day. I can even do it here.”

David leans forward and places a hand on Nolan’s wrist. He flinches at the contact, but David doesn’t notice.

“Nolan, I don’t know the first thing about computers or programming or... bugs. I invested in Nolcorp because I know you, and because you do.” He squeezes Nolan’s hand. “I trust you with my money. You don’t have to prove anything to me.” 

It’s these moments between the father-figure stuff that makes Nolan wonder. David’s expression is still warm and honest, but there’s an edge to his voice - like Nolan’s gawky frame and lack of social graces might tempt him after all. 

Nolan turns his hand over so now they’re palm to palm on the table. Like they’re clasping hands.

David hesitates. He’s already moving away. “Nolan-”

“I’m not a kid,” he says. 

He turns twenty in a week, and he’s never had anything long term outside dozens of casual, drunken hookups. Nolan likes sex, he just doesn’t really like people that tend to come with the sex. But he likes David.

He likes David a lot.

“You’re young. You should be hanging out with ki- with people your age,” David repeats, and deliberately takes his hand away. He isn’t sure if he imagines the tightness in David’s voice. 

“People my age are dull,” Nolan says. Everyone is so caught up in their own lives, in their clothes and their appearances and who’s screwing who. No one cares or understands the finer aspects of C++, not even his cohort at MIT, which is why he’s dropping out next semester to pursue Nolcorp full-time.

David isn’t dull. David believes in Nolan, even if he barely knows how to turn on a computer. Nolan can’t even begin to list the things that David’s done for him.

“You just don’t give them a chance. You’re a bright kid, Nolan, and I don’t just mean with all this programming stuff. Anyone should feel lucky to have you for a friend. I know I am.”

Nolan almost laughs. He doesn’t have any friends apart from David. His self-imposed hermitude means he’s focusing entirely on David’s investment and developing the first stable release of the code. And that’s just the first step. 

He smiles anyway. David likes to think the best of people. Nolan doesn’t want to see David disappointed at his apparent lack of social life.

“Yeah, I guess so. Some people from class invited me to a party next week. I was thinking of going.”

David meets his eyes and smiles warmly back. Their earlier moment is apparently forgotten, but Nolan rubs his fingers together to chase the warmth of David’s skin.

“In that case, how about we cancel next week’s meeting, and we both get a well-deserved break. I think Amanda’s been begging me to take her sailing for months. And you, Nolan, are going to act your age. I look forward to you telling me all about this wild party, and making me feel like an old man.”

What would David do if Nolan walked around the desk right now, pushed David into his stupid office chair and kissed him? He’d cup the underside of David’s face to feel the coarseness of his stubble and lick his mouth open to show David that he’d never be too old to do some things. That he’s not too old for Nolan.

It might mean the end of Nolcorp, but Nolan has a feeling that maybe wouldn’t be. 

“Sounds great,” he says, somehow mustering enough enthusiasm that it sounds genuine to his own ears as well. Of the two of them, David is the risk-taker. 

On the up-side, he’ll definitely have time to fix the memory leak by their next meeting.

*

Two years later they talk on an echoey phone line, separated by a pane of glass.

“You’re like a son to me,” David says, but this time his eyes are inviting, and his lips are suggestive. “I trusted you with taking care of my only daughter.”

Maybe it wouldn’t be ethical to take advantage of a desperate man, but Nolan thinks David has finally stopped thinking of him as a child.

“Can you swear to me now that I can trust you?”

Nolan’s never been able to resist David. He still can’t. When David speaks Nolan’s forever eighteen, wearing a suit that’s too big for his body and knocking on David Clarke’s door for the first time. 

“You can trust me,” he promises. His voice shakes, even though David’s voice hasn’t wavered this whole time. “I’ll... treat her like a sister.”

Nolan doesn’t splay his hand against the glass, though he wants to. He’s not a kid anymore. 

He knows they can’t touch. 

He wouldn’t even feel the heat of David’s palm.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this after viewing [this season one deleted scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT68Swm3nNc) which serves as the last part of the fic.


End file.
